A.M. #33: St. Louis

According to St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, the Blue Jackets are back, skating with the form and focus of their 19-5-5 run that ended last season.

According to Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards, the Jackets, despite a 4-1 record in their past five games, have a long way to go to reach such heights. A sloppy, 5-4 win over New Jersey last week was proof of that, as he said once more today.

Of course, both men shared their views on the morning before their teams will play tonight in Nationwide Arena, so their differing opinions were hardly a shock. It comes with the territory. Every coach, in their own way, is Lou Holtz, their teams one misstep away from disaster, one mistake away from embarrassment. Their opponent, always, is the’27 Yankees.

“It’s the way that their whole team plays,” Richards said of the Blues, who are among the NHL’s elite with a 21-6-3 record and a plus-36 goal differential.

“To me, it’s simple. They go hard to the net and they out-compete you. They wait for you to quit, they wait for you to give up because it’s a hard game. We’ve got to be ready to play the hard game for 60 minutes or maybe more. I told the guys this is going to be a man’s game tonight.”

Hooey, said Hitchcock, who suddenly seemed to forget that he had David Backes, among others, on his roster.

“We are not that big,” he said. “If you want to see big, go play in California. That’s big out there. We’re just a bunch of small guys trying to make our way.”

They’ll do so in rough waters, he said. Many of the Jackets’ biggest guns (Marian Gaborik, Nathan Horton, Sergei Bobrovsky, James Wisniewski and Jared Boll) have been silenced by injuries, but Columbus has won four of its past five games.

“I think through necessity they got there game back,” Hitchcock said. “I think they look exactly like they did last year when they went on their run. They’re hunting and hounding and playing really good team hockey. All the things that coach Richards wants, he’s getting.

“That’s the way their playing. Necessity forced them to play this way. When you’re missing some key players, you have a chance to either dig in or go the other way. Obviously with the record and the way they’ve played, they’ve dug in. It probably won’t change the rest of the year. When you’re dug in, as deep as they are now, it’s pretty hard to let go.”

Side dishes

--Jackets goalie Mike McKenna will make his first start since Nov. 20, 2010. McKenna, then a Devil, made 27 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Blues. That game was played in his hometown of St. Louis, and he considered it a far bigger deal than his start tonight. “That was kind of a shell shock,” McKenna said. “There was just so many people watching, so much riding on it. It’s lost some of that now. I’m also a few year older. I’m trying as hard as I can to just approach it as another game.”

--The Jackets are 4-0 in their past four home games and 5-1-1 in their past seven in Nationwide Arena, where they lost three of their first nine. “I think there is a little bit more confidence now,” Richards said.

--The Jackets reassigned forward Jack Skille to minor-league Springfield this morning. They have only 12 healthy forwards, but Gaborik (knee sprain) participated in the morning skate this morning and said he felt well during and after. Gaborik said a return next week is a possibility. Others are getting closer, as well, Richards said. “Players are getting close,” he said. “I don’t know exactly when. I don’t want to say Monday (against Winnipeg) but guys are starting to get close.” Wisniewski (lower body) and Gaborik are the closest. Boll (foot) did not skate this morning.

--Goalie Jaroslav Halak will start for the Blues after Brian Elliott started the previous two games. Halak allowed three goals on eight shots and was pulled from his last start after seven minutes. That 5-2 loss to Anaheim in St. Louis on Dec. 7 was one of only two regulation defeats suffered by the Blues this season in Scottrade Center. They are 13-2-2 at home.

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